“Thank you for the fridge you helped us with. It's now working. It preserves fish well without getting rot. Now Pamela buys fish enough to sell for two days this make her not to go to lake everyday she go there three times a week. This gives her time to rest also help to spend less on transport.”
This note, taken from a letter we received this month, is affirming that the money invested in Charles and Pamela Otieno was money well spent. Because both of these lovely people are deaf, they have had difficulty finding employment opportunities. Charles has shared his carpentry skills with many young deaf students through the years, but recently he has been helping his wife with the fish business. Their “business” is one in which they sit at a table on the side of a dirt road with other business women and men, selling and trading. It is with pride (and relief) that Charles details how much money his wife saves each week by keeping fish refrigerated rather than toting a one-day supply of fish from Lake Victoria six times a week. They have made the trek hundreds of times since a missionary gave them a blue, Igloo cooler fifteen years ago. The two-hour ride in a public service vehicle on deteriorating roads is exhausting to the mother of nine.
Charles and Pamela refuse to call any of the children they have adopted “orphans.” “They are our children!” Charles insists as he speaks of the four young ones they added to their family after the children’s parents died of the virus causing AIDS. Assumption of this responsibility is a huge burden, and many families are accepting the challenges associated with caring for relatives and neighbors.
We are delighted to participate with this family and many other distant neighbors by sharing some of the financial burden with funds that are given to Huruma House (huruma is the Swahili word for “mercy”), a public charity devoted to serving orphans, widows, and those who are desperately poor in East Africa. AIDS has created a crisis beyond the imagination of those who have never researched the wide ranging effects of the virus. Not only does it rob individuals of strength and health, it becomes a burden to the extended families and neighbors in countless ways. One dear friend from Kenya once described the situation this way: “Imagine standing in the center of Rongo with a blindfold on your eyes. If you turn around three times, then toss a small stone into the air over your head, you must be careful! The stone will probably land on an orphan!”
Each month, resolutions are passed by the Board of Huruma House to disburse funds to our brothers, sisters, and children in East Africa. We are determined to dedicate 100% of contributed public funds to assisting beneficiaries in direct ways. Investments include: purchasing dairy cows for milk, poultry projects for eggs and meat, sustainable agriculture, seed money for businesses, assistance with education, and community feeding programs. We remain devoted to our original goals of:
- helping widows, orphans, and the very needy in East Africa
- helping in ways that emphasize a vision toward sustainability
- supporting existing indigenous efforts to feed, clothe, shelter, and educate neighbors
- developing strategies and encouraging opportunities for the East African people to grow in their faith and discipleship
If you are interested in learning more about Huruma House, you are welcome to visit our website at http://www.hurumahouse.org or write to president@hurumahouse.org. We would love to share some exciting opportunities with you in hopes that we can be
Serving others with you,
Stephen Greek
President, Huruma House
(For the Huruma House Board of Directors)
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